The invention relates to fishing reels and more particularly as a fly casting type reel where the line is hand stripped from the reel and payed out according to the techniques of fly casting and the reel is especially designed for the playing of relatively large, powerful fish where the use of a drag and brake are required to properly play and land the fish.
When a relatively large, powerful fish takes a hook and starts its run, a very rapid pay out of the line under some resistance is highly desirable. This resistance is commonly referred to as drag and its purpose is to tire the fish and enable the fisherman to reel in the fish before it takes off for a second run, the procedure being repeated until the fish is brought in and landed. The discretionary use of a supplemental brake on the line is also highly desirable in the playing and tiring of the fish. Preferably both the amount of drag and the use of the supplemental braking action are adjustable and manually controlled.
During the period that the fish makes its run, the reel spool is rotated at high speed and imbalances in the reel/spool structure will subject the reel and the adjacent butt end of the rod to heavy vibration which impedes the making of manual adjustment of the drag and selective application of the brake. Also while the use of drag and braking is important in playing the fish, particularly in limiting the length of its run, both are undesirable during the intermediate reeling in periods.